﻿FISHES, GENUS ECSENIUS — CHAPMAN AND SCHULTZ 523 



cirrus and of same shape ; anterior profile either vertical or with fore- 

 head slightly projecting; a single small canine close behind labial 

 teeth, hidden by fold of membrane in corner of mouth on each side 

 of lower jaw in males; not found in females; depth 5.0 to 5.2, head 

 4.5 to 4.8, both in standard length; dorsal spines all approximately 

 same height except last, which are half height of first ray and two- 

 thirds height of next-to-last spine; soft dorsal highest in its middle, 

 and longest spine a little shorter than longest ray ; spines not extend- 

 ing beyond fin membrane; in small specimens fin membrane comes 

 down to height of last spine, making a distinct, if shallow, notch ; in 

 larger specimens of both sexes the membrane extends straight back 

 with no notch between fins, only difference in level ; membrane bind- 

 ing last ray of dorsal and anal to caudal peduncle reaching to, but 



Figure 94. — Ecsenius bicolor (Day). Specimen from New Hebrides Islands. (Drawn by 



M. Nickerson). 



not over, first small ray of caudal ; caudal with 13 principal rays and 

 6 smaller ones both above and below ; second and third principal rays 

 extending beyond edge of middle rays, third to a distance equaling 

 half length of middle rays ; third principal ray from bottom extending 

 even farther; in females of the same size the elongated caudal rays 

 project by no more than one-fourth the length of the middle rays, and 

 in smaller specimens of both sexes they scarcely extend beyond normal 

 edge of fin ; both anal spines plainly visible in both sexes, the second 

 three-fourths the length of the first ray, the first one-half the length 

 of the first ray ; in male, but not female, each anal ray bears a small 

 bulbous enlargement on anterior side of its tip; in male a slender 

 genital tube half the length of first spine between anus and first spine ; 

 in females a rounded, rather large genital pad with a tiny nubbin on 

 its posterior edge; longest pectoral ray shorter than head by length 

 of snout and two-thirds eye; longest pelvic ray equal to about two- 

 thirds postorbital length of head; pelvic spine and third ray com- 

 pletely hidden and visible only by dissection, 



Ooloration. — ^INIale : Head and anterior two-thirds of body almost 

 uniformly dark brown (bluish in life) ; blackness of peritoneum makes 

 abdomen darker than above ; in posterior third of body this dark area 



